√2023 Cupra Born electric hot hatch confirmed for Australia, here next year

The Volkswagen-owned Cupra brand will launch its first electric car in Australia early next year, the company confirmed today.

The 2023 Cupra Born electric hot hatch has been confirmed for Australia via a video link message from the global CEO of Cupra this morning.

“I can tell you this morning that Cupra’s first fully electric model and European Car Of the Year finalist will go into production for Australia in the last quarter of this year and will start deliveries in early 2023,” said the global CEO of Cupra, Wayne Griffiths in a video message to media in Sydney this morning.

Production of the first Australia-bound examples of the 2023 Cupra Born is due to commence late this year ahead of showroom arrivals early next year.

Pricing is yet to be confirmed, but the company has announced a network of at least 10 showrooms from launch.

The Cupra Born will join other Cupra models such as Formentor, Leon, and Ateca which are due on sale from mid year.

Although the Cupra Born electric car shares its underpinnings with the Volkswagen ID.3, the Spanish brand beat the German parent to the Australian market with an electric car after the global CEO fast-tracked development of a right-hand-drive model for Australia.

Mr Griffiths said the high-performance electric car – which promises the performance of a VW Golf GTI – will appeal to “a new generation of Aussie car lovers”.

Three examples of the Cupra Born have been testing in Australia since January 2022, one of which was spied by Drive earlier this year (shown below).

According to Griffiths, these cars are “running tens of thousands of kilometres of tests including valuable data that’s being assessed in Barcelona right now.”

In flagship overseas variants, a single electric motor on the rear axle sends 170kW to the road – allowing the 0-100km/h sprint to be completed in a claimed 6.6 seconds.

The largest battery – 77kWh – permits a maximum range of 548km between charges on the WLTP cycle.

Cupra – the offshoot of VW-owned Spanish brand Seat – says Australia is a critical market to test consumer acceptance of the brand before it expands globally.

Cupra Australia representatives say they have received more than 7000 expressions of interest from local buyers, ahead of the formal launch of the brand from June.

The post 2023 Cupra Born electric hot hatch confirmed for Australia, here next year appeared first on Drive.